Americans United - religious tests for public officehttp://www.au.org/tags/religious-tests-for-public-office
enPickney's Promisehttp://www.au.org/church-state/december-2016-church-state/featured/pickneys-promise
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p><em>By Simon Brown</em></p>
<p>In the spring of 1787 at Mary House’s boarding house in Philadelphia, Charles Pinckney, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from South Carolina, and other soon-to-be framers of the U.S. Constitution, may have come up with a radical idea during their after-dinner conversations: No one should be disqualified from running for public office in the new United States based on their religious beliefs.</p>
<p>Dozens of delegates from the 13 states then in existence gathered in Philadelphia that year to mold America’s founding document. But before the proceedings officially began in May, a number of delegates arrived early – if nothing else to reserve rooms in some of the nicer inns, like Mary House’s. Among them was Pinckney. And while he did not actually rent a room from House, he was heavily influenced by one of House’s clients: James Madison, the primary architect of the First Amendment, an ardent advocate for church-state separation and a future U.S. president.</p>
<p>Despite Pinckney’s part in bolstering church-state separation in the United States, you probably haven’t heard of him; while he was a prominent citizen in his day who served in the Continental Congress, as governor of South Carolina and as a member of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, he is now largely forgotten.</p>
<p>And further obscuring Pinckney’s legacy is the fact that scholars have not yet uncovered the definitive reason behind his decision to push hard for a constitutional clause that prohibits religious discrimination toward anyone seeking public office. As we approach the 230th anniversary of the writing of the Constitution, however, it is worth paying tribute to Pinckney and his work in ensuring that religious freedom won a place in the Constitution – years before Madison penned the First Amendment.</p>
<p>Like most 18th-century aristocrats, Pinckney is a complicated figure. As historian Marty D. Matthews, author of <em>Forgotten Founder: The Life and Times </em><em>of Charles Pinckney,</em> explained, “Charles Pinckney was a man and product of his time and place. As a southern planter, the benefits, rights, and opportunities he believed to be indispensable to white men were not applied to women nor to the slave labor force that supported him and his society. Women would have their place in Pinckney’s vision, but it was limited to the domestic arena in which they traditionally operated during the time period. And there was only one place for blacks during Pinckney’s life: bondage.” </p>
<p>Pinckney’s views on race and gender were products of his time. His views on religious liberty were far advanced. What do we know of this enigmatic figure?</p>
<p>Born in Charleston (then called “Charles Town”) on October 26, 1757, Pinckney was the eldest son of a lawyer and plantation owner, Col. Charles Pinckney, who was more or less the Warren Buffett of 18th century South Carolina. When the elder Pinckney died in 1782, he left three plantations to be split among his wife and children. Charles alone inherited a mansion in Charles Town, as well as other property in the city. To pay Col. Pinckney’s debts, property worth approximately $10 million in today’s money and 60 slaves were to be sold. (To put this in context: In 1860, less than 1 percent of southerners owned more than 50 slaves.)</p>
<p>Tragically, Pinckney made clear just how important upholding the institution of slavery was to him a mere five years after gaining his inheritance. During the Constitutional Convention, he fought through Northern resistance to gain passage of Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Con­stitution, which was known as the “Fugitives From Labor Clause.” It required that escaped slaves who fled to another state must be returned to their owners. (That clause was later repealed, of course.)</p>
<p>Despite his position as a slaveholder, Pinckney was nonetheless a champion of ideological freedom. As originally written, the Constitution contained no guarantee of religious liberty. That would come a few years later, with Madison’s Bill of Rights.</p>
<p>But thanks to Pinckney, the Constitution of 1787 wasn’t entirely silent on religious freedom. His contribution to America’s founding document is nearly as important as the First Amendment and handily debunks the “Christian nation” myth of America’s founding.</p>
<p>The end of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, which Pinckney is responsible for, states that elected officials and judges “shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”</p>
<p>How did this stipulation end up in our founding document? The answer to that is fairly straightforward – but that doesn’t mean the process was easy. On Aug. 20, 1787, the 29-year-old Pinckney submitted to the Constitutional Convention’s Committee of Detail what Matthews called “a small bill of rights.” Although most of those rights would not make their way into the final version of the Constitution, the “no religious tests” idea did – but no thanks to the committee.</p>
<p>When Pinckney introduced his anti-religion test proposal to the convention, the Committee on Detail ignored it. But, ever persistent, Pinckney found another way by intro­ducing the proposal again on the convention floor. Upon presenting his idea, he told the assembly that his measure was “a provision the world will expect from you in the establishment of a System founded on Republican principles and in an age so liberal and enlightened as the present.”</p>
<p>Madison later wrote in his diary that once on the floor, the South Carolinian’s idea was attacked by Roger Sherman of Connecticut.</p>
<p>“Mr. Sherman thought it unnecessary, the prevailing liberality being a sufficient security agst. such tests,” Madison wrote.</p>
<p>But Pinckney, apparently, had allies: The measure was seconded by Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania and drew support from Charles Cotes­worth Pinckney of South Carolina (Charles Pinckney’s first cousin once removed) as well. The proposal was thus “adopted by a very great majority,” as Luther Martin of Maryland put it in his report to the Maryland legislature about the convention’s proceedings.</p>
<p>As Matthews noted in his book: “On the issue of religious tests and separation of church and state, Pinckney proved himself to be a champion.”</p>
<p>Although just one of Pinckney’s ideas for safeguarding church-state separation ultimately became enshrined in the Constitution, it seems he had grand plans beyond Article VI that were not immediately realized.</p>
<p>Church­­-state scholar Anson Phelps Stokes wrote in his massive 1950 three-volume work <em>Church and State in the United States</em> that Pinckney also proposed a provision mandating that “the legislature of the United States shall pass no law on the subject of religion.” Additionally, he pushed for a provision protecting the right of Quakers to refrain from swearing oaths and advocated for the creation of a national university free from religious control.</p>
<p>Why Pinckney championed separation is harder to discern, but his ideas clearly echo concepts promoted by Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Mat­thews said Madison likely influenced Pinckney, which could explain the South Carolinian’s zeal for religious freedom. Other than Jefferson, who was Madison’s mentor, no other Founding Father was as staunch in his defense of the church-state wall than was Madison. We have devoted considerable space to Madison in past issues of <em>Church &amp; State</em>, but it’s worth remembering that the future president wrote perhaps the greatest argument against state-sponsored religion ever penned.</p>
<p>“[E]xperience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of Religion, have had a contrary operation,” he wrote in “Memorial and Re­­mon­strance Against Religious Assessments.” “During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”</p>
<p>Of course, Pinckney’s work could have been for naught had the states not ratified the Constitution. Pinckney’s handiwork sparked some controversy during this debate; delegates in North Carolina seemed especially offended by Article VI. During North Carolina’s ratifying convention in 1788, Henry Abbot worried “that if there be no religious test required, pagans, deists, and Mahometans (Muslims) might obtain offices among us, and that the senators and representatives might all be pagans.”</p>
<p>But none other than Madison leaped to the defense of Article VI in the Federalist Papers, calling it one of the highlights of the proposed Constitution. The provision, of course, would remain intact.</p>
<p>Why else might Pinckney have been so intent on securing religious liberty in the new nation? Perhaps it was in reaction to his perception of problems within Great Britain. During a 1788 speech to the Confederation Congress, the country’s governing body from 1781-89, he blasted the British system of state-established religion, saying it disenfranchised millions.</p>
<p>“In reviewing such of the European states as we are best acquainted with, we may with truth assert that there is but one among the most important which confirms to its citizens their civil liberties, or provides for the security of private rights,” Pinckney asserted. “But as if it had been fated that we should be the first perfectly free people the world had ever seen, even the government I have alluded to withholds from a part of its subjects the equal enjoyment of their religious liberties.”</p>
<p>Continued Pinckney, “How many thousands of the subjects of Great Britain at this moment labor under civil disabilities, merely on account of their religious persuasions! To the liberal and enlightened mind, the rest of Europe affords a melancholy picture of the depravity of human nature, and of the total subversion of those rights, without which we should suppose no people could be happy or content.”</p>
<p>Still other researchers have offered additional insights into Pinckney’s mind. In his 1978 work, <em>A Founding Family: The Pinckneys of South Carolina</em>, Frances Leigh Williams posited that this Founding Father’s ideas may have been the result of “a flowering of the old liberal Whig philosophy held by England’s best in his formative years,” which could mean that he was struck by that party’s belief in universal rights, its desire to reform the traditional relationship between church and state and its tolerance of non-conformist Protestants, such as Presbyterians.</p>
<p>Another historian said Pinckney’s ideas may have come from his desire to break with the South Carolina Constitution of 1778. In his Ph.D. dissertation, “The South Carolina Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787: An Analytical Study” completed at Duke University in 1956, Shirley Sidney Ulmer wrote: “The degree to which Pinckney’s religious tolerance deviated from the climate of opinion in South Carolina may be derived from the knowledge of certain provisions in the state constitution at that time. The constitution declared that ‘The Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared to be, the established religion of this State. That all denominations of Christian Protestants … shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges.’”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it is likely we will never know for sure why Pinckney felt church and state should be separated.</p>
<p>“[T]he manuscripts that we’ve collected and are in the process of publishing so far just don’t speak to Charles Pinckney’s religious beliefs or sensibilities,” Bob Karachuk, associate editor of the Papers of the Revolutionary Era Pinckney Statesmen at the University of South Carolina, told <em>Church &amp; State</em>.</p>
<p>Today, Pinckney’s contributions toward the establishment of religious freedom in this country are largely overlooked. This may explain why many Americans seem to have imposed a <em>de facto</em> religious test for public office. Indeed, a 2015 Gallup Poll found that 42 percent of Americans said they would not vote for an atheist political candidate.</p>
<p>While voters are free to impose such tests in their minds, a number of states still have laws on their books stating non-believers have no right to public office. A total of seven states – North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas – prohibit atheists from holding public office to this day. An oddly worded provision in Pennsylvania’s Constitution also bars non-believers, some assert. (Fortunately, a 1961 Supreme Court case, <em>Torcaso v. Watkins</em>, made all of these statewide bans unenforceable.) </p>
<p>Forgetting history is always a risky proposition, and the consequence of forgetting Pinckney’s contribution to the foundations of church-state separation is that otherwise qualified candidates will not be elected in the United States as long as such a large percentage of voters apply their own form of religious test to those seeking office. But if more Americans would look at the intent of the Founding Fathers – including men like Pinckney – and remember that they wanted church and state to be separate, perhaps religious prejudice would be dealt a fatal blow and candidates would be chosen based on their qualifications rather than their faith. </p>
</div></div><h3 >Two Hundred and Thirty Years Ago, An Obscure Founding Father Put Something Very Important Into The U.S.&nbsp;Constitution</h3><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Featured</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-12501" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/us-constitution">U.S. Constitution</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religious-tests-for-public-office">religious tests for public office</a></span></div></div>Thu, 01 Dec 2016 14:15:49 +0000Timothy Ritz12504 at http://www.au.orghttp://www.au.org/church-state/december-2016-church-state/featured/pickneys-promise#commentsReligious Test?: Email Hack Reveals Democrats Discussed Attacking Bernie Sanders’ Religious Beliefshttp://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/religious-test-email-hack-reveals-democrats-discussed-attacking-bernie
<a href="/about/people/barry-w-lynn">Barry W. Lynn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>As the Democratic National Convention gets underway this week in Philadelphia, the Democratic National Committee is reeling from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/23/dnc-emails-wikileaks-hillary-bernie-sanders">an email hacking scandal</a> that exposed an insider discussion to possibly attack U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over his religious beliefs.</p>
<p>As Hillary Clinton was battling Sanders for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Democratic National Committee Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall suggested that Clinton could gain an advantage among primary voters in Kentucky and West Virginia if Sanders’ faith came into question.</p>
<p>“It might may (sic) no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,”<a href="https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/7643" target="_blank"> Marshall wrote in a message</a> to other Democratic National Committee staffers that was posted on WikiLeaks.</p>
<p>In response to Marshall’s proposal, committee Chief Executive Officer Amy Dacey responded, “Amen.”</p>
<p><br /><img alt="" src="/files/Bernie.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 467px;" /></p>
<p><em>Bernie Sanders' beliefs should not disqualify him from being president. </em></p>
<p>It is distressing that a major political party would seek to disqualify anyone based on his or her religious beliefs – or lack thereof. The discussion of Sanders’ faith amounted to discrimination against non-believers, something that should be unacceptable in our society and runs counter to the <a href="https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Democratic-Party-Platform-7.21.16-no-lines.pdf">Democratic Party Platform</a> commitment to “protect religious minorities and the fundamental right of freedom of religion.”</p>
<p>Additionally, the U.S. Constitution expressly states that there can be <a href="http://constitution.findlaw.com/article6.html">no religious tests for office</a>. That means a candidate’s faith cannot stop him or her from holding an elected position, and it suggests that faith should not be a factor in determining the suitability of a candidate for office.</p>
<p>That Sanders’ rumored atheism would come into play during a national election is, sadly, not a surprise. Polls consistently show that atheists are disqualified from holding office <a href="http://au.org/church-state/february-2016-church-state/featured/the-last-political-taboo">in the minds of many American voters</a>. A June 2015 <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/183713/socialist-presidential-candidates-least-appealing.aspx">Gallup poll</a> found that 40 percent of respondents said they would flatly refuse to vote for an atheist candidate, the highest of any group included in the survey except socialists. </p>
<p>Only Sanders knows for sure what he does or does not believe, though he has <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/289002-sanders-i-am-not-an-atheist">denied that he is an atheist</a>. The Vermont senator, who was born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, N.Y., had previously <a href="http://au.org/church-state/march-2016-church-state/people-events/religion-roils-presidential-race-as-candidates">said he believes in God</a> and added, “I think everyone believes in God in their own ways. To me, it means that all of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together.” </p>
<p>But what Sanders does or does not believe should be irrelevant to his qualifications for president. He isn’t running for pastor-in-chief and his decisions (or anyone else’s) as chief executive cannot establish religious teachings into law.</p>
<p>In the wake of the hacking scandal, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), head of the Democratic National Committee, said <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/24/debbie-wasserman-schultz-resigns-dnc-chair-emails-sanders">she will step down</a>. Marshall <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/top-dnc-staffer-apologizes-for-email-on-sanders-religion-226072">apologized</a>, but his fate remains unknown.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Marshall’s inadequate <em>mea culpa</em> failed to make amends with the primary group he offended – atheists.</p>
<p>“I deeply regret that my insensitive, emotional emails would cause embarrassment to the DNC, the Chairwoman, and all of the staffers who worked hard to make the primary a fair and open process,” Marshall wrote on his Facebook page. “The comments expressed do not reflect my beliefs nor do they reflect the beliefs of the DNC and its employees. I apologize to those I offended.”</p>
<p>Even if the Democratic National Committee shakeup is over, Democrats, Republicans and everyone else must remember that the First Amendment’s promise of religious freedom doesn’t arbitrarily end at the ballot box, and all political parties should respect the fact that everyone has the right to believe – or not – as he or she sees fit. That is what true religious freedom is all about.</p>
<p>After all, when the president takes the oath of office, he or she swears to uphold all of the Constitution. That means everyone’s beliefs must be protected by the highest office in the land. </p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/outside-workplace-discrimination-exemptions-religious-practice-including-military-prisons">Institutional Discrimination, Exemptions &amp; Religious Practice (Including Military, Prisons &amp; Healthcare)</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bernie-sanders">Bernie Sanders</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/hillary-clinton">Hillary Clinton</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/democratic-national-committee">Democratic National Committee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/democratic-national-convention">Democratic National Convention</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/debbie-wasserman-schultz">Debbie Wasserman Schultz</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/brad-marshall">Brad Marshall</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/atheism">atheism</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religious-tests-for-public-office">religious tests for public office</a></span></div></div>Mon, 25 Jul 2016 16:04:06 +0000Simon Brown12234 at http://www.au.orghttp://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/religious-test-email-hack-reveals-democrats-discussed-attacking-bernie#commentsThe Last Political Taboo?http://www.au.org/church-state/february-2016-church-state/featured/the-last-political-taboo
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Abraham Lincoln faced his share of sharp criticism from political opponents during his career, but among the most stinging accusations against him may have been an implication that the future president was “an open scoffer at Christianity” – in other words, an atheist.</p><p>“That I am not a member of any Christian church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or any denomination of Christians in particular,” Lincoln wrote in July 1846, shortly before winning election to Congress.</p><p>Lincoln went on to outline his beliefs in some detail. “It is true,” he continued, “that in early life I was inclined to believe in what I understand is called the ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ – that is, that the human mind is impelled to action, or held in rest by some power, over which the mind itself has no control; and I have sometimes (with one, two or three, but never publicly) tried to maintain this opinion in argument. The habit of arguing thus however, I have, entirely left off for more than five years. And I add here, I have always understood this same opinion to be held by several of the Christian denominations. The foregoing is the whole truth, briefly stated, in relation to myself, upon this subject.”</p><p>That Lincoln felt the need to respond to this sort of criticism lobbed at him by his opponent, Peter Cart­wright, shows that it could be political poison in the 19th century to be perceived as hostile to Christian doctrine.</p><p>While American society may have evolved considerably since then, as evidenced by the fact that an African American occupies the White House and the 114th Congress is the most diverse in U.S. history, one non-political group remains heavily maligned by voters: atheists. In fact, a June 2015 Gallup poll found that 40 percent of respondents said they would flatly refuse to vote for an atheist candidate, the highest of any group included in the survey except socialists. Exactly why atheism remains the last political taboo cannot be said for certain, but research indicates that many people apparently believe that atheists can’t be trusted because they lack basic morals.</p><p>The U.S. Constitution makes it clear that religion cannot be used to disqualify anyone from running for elected office. Article VI, paragraph 3 states: “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”</p><p>But that doesn’t mean voters can’t impose their own “religious test” – and many do. Since the founding of the United States, candidates with unconventional ideas about religion have struggled to win elections, a trend that continues to this day.</p><p>Thomas Jefferson is celebrated today as both a primary influence upon the First Amendment as well as the originator of the term “wall of separation between church and state.” Although many now value Jefferson’s contributions to America’s concept of freedom of conscience, his ideas about religion were considered radical by many of his contemporaries.</p><p>In the run up to the presidential election of 1800, for example, Jefferson’s political opponents mercilessly attacked him on matters of belief. This assault began as early as 1798, when on July 4, the Rev. Timothy Dwight, who was then president of Yale University, told his congregation that a Jefferson victory would destroy the moral fiber of the new nation because the Founding Father allegedly did not believe in God.</p><p>“[T]he Bible would be cast into a bonfire, our holy worship changed in a dance of Jacobin phrensy [frenzy], our wives and daughters dishonored, and our sons converted into the disciples of Voltaire and the dragoons of Marat,” Dwight ranted. “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of distress, the soil will be soaked with blood, the nation black with crimes.”</p><p>Another minister, the Rev. William Linn, a Dutch Reformed pastor in New York, also used allegations of atheism as an opportunity to go after Jefferson. After studying Jefferson’s 1785 work <em>Notes on the State of Virginia</em>, Linn declared that the Sage of Monticello did not view the Bible as the book “most ancient, the most authentic, the most interesting, and the most useful in the world.” Purely on that basis, Linn opined, “he ought to be rejected from the Presidency.”</p><p>Federalist publications, which supported then-President John Adams, also ran with the idea that Jefferson was not to be trusted because of his alleged atheism.</p><p>“At the present solemn and momentous epoch, the only question to be asked by every American, laying his hand on his heart, is ‘Shall I continue in allegiance to GOD – AND A RELIGIOUS PRESIDENT; or impiously declare for JEFFERSON – AND NO GOD!!!’” cried one newspaper.</p><p>A handful of pro-Jefferson newspapers came to his defense. A Maryland newspaper observed, “The spirit of party has converted the elegant reasoning of Mr. Jefferson against religious establishments into a blasphemous argument against religion itself.”</p><p>The <em>Philadelphia Aurora</em> denied the atheist accusations more directly.</p><p>“[T]hat the only charge which was brought by his enemies against Mr. Jefferson, is... that he has no religion – a charge as false as it is weak and malicious, and which being brought at the eve of the last election prevented those enquires and answers… which have proved, that Mr. Jefferson was the most valuable and best friend that the true religion, and particularly the doctrines of the Christian Religion, ever had in the United States,” the newspaper editorialized.</p><p>More than 200 years later, anti-atheist sentiment by voters is still common, although on the decline. Gallup began asking Americans if they would vote for an atheist president in 1958; at that time, just 18 percent said they would. Flash forward to 2012, when 54 percent of respondents said they would vote for an atheist for the top job.</p><p>By 2015, that percentage had risen to 58. Additionally, between 2012 and 2015 the percentage of people who said they would not vote for an atheist chief executive fell from 43 percent to 40 percent.</p><p>While that may not sound so bad, it looks a bit worse in context. When it comes to religious groups, in 2015 Gallup poll respondents were significantly more comfortable with candidates from a faith community than they were atheists. Huge majorities said they would vote for a Catholic (93 percent) or a Jew (91 percent). Most of those surveyed also had no issue with voting for a Mormon (81 percent) or an evangelical Christian (73 percent). Even 60 percent of respondents said they would vote for a Muslim.</p><p>That mean atheists fared worse than every faith group in the survey, as well as gay and lesbian candidates, who were deemed acceptable by 74 percent of respondents. Only socialists had a worse favorability rating than atheists, with just 47 percent saying they would vote for a candidate who supported that form of government. </p><p>Analyzing these results, Gallup reached a straightforward conclusion. </p><p>“Americans’ notions about whom they would give their support to are widening, but they are still less than fully supportive of candidates with certain characteristics,” the polling service said.</p><p>It’s no wonder, then, that the current Congress does not count a single “out” atheist among its ranks. Just one member, U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), identities as a Unitarian Universalist, a denomination that harbors some non-theists, while U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) is “unidentified.” Nine other members of Con­gress, all Democrats, have chosen not to list any religious affiliation.</p><p>Only one member of Congress to date, former U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) has ever publicly admitted to being atheist while serving – but he left office in 2013 after 30 years thanks to a primary defeat. And even Stark did not acknowledge his unbelief until 2007.</p><p>“[I am] a Unitarian who does not believe in a Supreme Being,” Stark said at the time. “[L]ike our nation’s founders, I strongly support the separation of church and state.” Stark also aligned himself with the American Humanist Association and the Secular Coalition for America, two non-theistic groups.</p><p>Despite Stark’s groundbreaking admission, little progress has been made on this front for members of Con­gress. Sinema, who was raised Mor­mon, was described by the Religion News Service (RNS) as an “atheist” in November 2012, shortly after she won her seat. But Sinema spokes­man Jus­tin Unga quickly pushed back against that label, telling RNS that “Kyrsten believes the terms non-theist, atheist or nonbeliever are not befitting of her life’s work or personal character. She does not identify as any of the above.”</p><p>Sinema has yet to publicly confirm what her beliefs are and reports of her non-belief remain just that – reports. It is notable, however, that she took her oath of office on a copy of the U.S. Constitution in 2013.</p><p>As challenging as it is to be an out atheist in Congress today, it may be even tougher at the local or state level. Just ask Cecil Bothwell, a former local government reporter turned city council member.</p><p>After covering the Asheville, N.C., government from 1993-2007, Bothwell in 2009 decided to run for city council himself. He won that race, but it was no small feat. During the campaign, Bothwell’s opponents went after him for a critical book he authored about Billy Graham. Bothwell opponents pointed out that in his book, <em>The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire</em>, the former reporter spoke frankly about his own lack of faith, writing, “I don’t believe in supernatural beings of any stripe….”</p><p>When Bothwell won the election, his opponents initially refused to accept it. They began arguing that Bothwell was ineligible to take his new position, pointing to a provision in the North Carolina Constitution that bars atheists from holding public office. Indeed, Article VI, Section 8 of the North Carolina Constitution bars state office to anyone who is ineligible to vote, anyone who has been convicted of treason or any other felony and “any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”</p><p>You might think that provision is unique to North Carolina. You would be wrong. In fact, a total of seven states (also Maryland, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas) prohibit atheists from holding public office to this day. (An oddly worded provision in Pennsylvania’s Constitution also bars non-believers, some assert.)</p><p>These provisions are unenforceable thanks to a 1961 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down such “religious tests” for public office. The case, <em>Torcaso v. Watkins</em>, was brought by a Maryland man, Roy Torcaso, who refused to take a religious oath as a condition of becoming a notary public. As for Bothwell, he remains on the Asheville City Council to this day.</p><p>As a modern observer of American politics, it may seem difficult to understand why so many voters today maintain a 19th-century view when it comes to the faith of political candidates. Researchers, however, may have an explanation for the relative stagnation of attitudes toward non-believers.</p><p>A 2011 study conducted by psychologists at the University of British Columbia and the University of Oregon indicated that for many people, atheists just can’t be trusted. Researchers asked 350 American adults and 420 Canadian college students to consider the likely personal beliefs of a fictional car driver who hit a parked car and fled, then later found a wallet and took the money inside. Respondents were asked: Is this person most likely a teacher, an atheist teacher or a teacher who is also a rapist? Atheist teacher was the most common response.</p><p>“People find atheists very suspect,” Azim Shariff, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon and a co-author of the study, told <em>USA Today</em> in 2011. “They don’t fear God so we should distrust them; they do not have the same moral obligations of others. This is a common refrain against atheists. People fear them as a group.”</p><p>While those results were disheartening to many, Shariff saw some hope.</p><p>“If you manage to offer credible counteroffers of these stereotypes, this can do a lot to undermine people’s existing prejudice,” he said. “If you realize there are all these atheists you’ve been interacting with all your life and they haven’t raped your children that is going to do a lot do dispel these stereotypes.”</p><p>Overcoming the last taboo may take some time. But who knows? If current trends of tolerance continue, the day may come when Americans are at peace with the idea that qualified candidates can believe, or not, and still get the job done. </p></div></div><a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><h3 >The U.S. Constitution Forbids &#039;Religious Tests&#039; For Public Office, But When It Comes To Non-Believers, Many Voters Have Decided To Impose One&nbsp;Anyway</h3><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Featured</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-11691" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/atheism">atheism</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/abraham-lincoln">Abraham Lincoln</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-adams">John Adams</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religious-tests-for-public-office">religious tests for public office</a></span></div></div>Mon, 01 Feb 2016 16:00:00 +0000Timothy Ritz11692 at http://www.au.orghttp://www.au.org/church-state/february-2016-church-state/featured/the-last-political-taboo#commentsAmen To Pastor Jeffress: Why The Dallas Bigot Is Doing Us All A Servicehttp://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/amen-to-pastor-jeffress-why-the-dallas-bigot-is-doing-us-all-a-service
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">If a candidate is committed to church-state separation, you don’t have to worry much about whether he nods toward Rome, Mecca or Salt Lake City when he prays.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The Rev. Robert Jeffress just won’t shut up, and for that, I thank him.</p>
<p>You know Jeffress, the Texas preacher who infamously endorsed “ born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ” Rick Perry while denouncing Mitt Romney as a member of the Mormon “cult.” Since his debut on the national stage at the <a href="http://www.au.org/media/church-and-state/archives/2011/11/inside-the-values-voter.html?utm_source=au%2Bhomepage&amp;utm_medium=homepage%2Bbanner&amp;utm_campaign=Featured%2Bon%20homepage">Values Voter Summit</a>, Jeffress has added Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism to his list of “false” religions, and I’m sure it won’t be long before Zoroastrianism makes the grade as well.</p>
<p>The pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas has been all over the media in recent days, spreading his venomous take on religion and politics. Today he appears <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-jeffress-why-a-candidates-faith-matters/2011/10/18/gIQAErFEvL_story.html">on the op-ed page</a> of <em>The Washington Post </em>with a screed on “Why a candidate’s faith matters.”</p>
<p>“[O]ur religious beliefs,” he says, “define the very essence of who we are” and so evangelicals should vote in the GOP primary for a man who is “both a competent leader and a committed Christian.” If Romney gets the Republican nod, he may have to vote for him, but he hopes it doesn’t come to that.</p>
<p>Jeffress marshals all kinds of bogus arguments to support his naked religious bigotry.</p>
<p>For example, he says that Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, which forbids religious tests for public office, applies only to the government, not individual voters.</p>
<p>Jeffress is, I suppose, technically right about this. When you step into the voting booth, you can vote on the basis of all kinds of spurious considerations, including personal prejudices. You will have only your conscience to answer to, and as we know, some people don’t have very delicate consciences.</p>
<p>But Jeffress’ approach to voting is certainly in violation of the spirit of our Constitution and the vision of our nation’s Founders. Thomas Jefferson, a leading advocate of American religious liberty, said, “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no God.” Other Founders were equally broadminded, creating a nation where all citizens are equal regardless of their views about religion.</p>
<p>It goes without saying that Pastor Jeffress wouldn’t have voted for Jefferson for president. Or George Washington or James Madison or Abraham Lincoln or Theodore Roosevelt or Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They weren’t “born again,” as far as we know, any more than most of our presidents have been, up until recently.</p>
<p>In a feeble attempt to recruit at least one Founder to his side, Jeffress rolls out John Jay, an author of the Federalist Papers and the nation’s first chief justice. Jay, Jeffress recalls, said, “It is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”</p>
<p>Unlike some fabricated quotes from the Founders that the Religious Right often wave about, this Jay observation is accurate. But I hardly think Mr. Jay is proper role model for 21st-century America.</p>
<p>Jay, like Jeffress, had a rather narrow definition of what religious liberty means or, for that matter, what the term Christian encompasses. Catholics, for example, weren’t included. In 1777 in the New York constitutional convention, he fought hard to exclude Catholics from the state’s religious liberty protection. His proposed amendment would have forbidden Catholics to own land or exercise civil rights unless they took an oath repudiating the “dangerous and damnable doctrine that the pope…has power to absolve men from sins.” (The proposal failed on a 19-10 vote.)</p>
<p>Jeffress has attacked the Catholic Church as a “cult-like pagan religion,” so I can see why he thinks John Jay was a swell fellow. But Jay was wrong about religious liberty. We weren’t a Christian nation then, and we aren’t one now. Rather, we are a nation where some 2,000 different religious groups and traditions thrive and where millions of Americans follow no spiritual path at all.</p>
<p>Now, I’m not going to be drawn into the question of which religions are true and which religions are false. All of us have opinions about that and, like Jeffress, we’re free to express them.</p>
<p>Where Jeffress goes so wrong, however, is melding his personal religious beliefs so tightly with his political actions. He’s a born-again Christian and believes evangelical Christianity is the one true faith, so he’s going to do his damnedest to get someone with his faith perspective into the White House.</p>
<p>Jeffress wants this, not because of simple affection for fellow believers, but because he thinks his man will impose that one true faith on all Americans through government action. In keeping with his beliefs, he hopes his candidate will ban all abortions, deny civil rights to LGBT Americans, wedge religion into the public schools, fund religious academies, appoint Supreme Court justices like Antonin Scalia and generally take a bulldozer to the wall of separation between church and state.</p>
<p>If Jeffress’ dream comes true, all of us who fail to meet his religious test will be second-class citizens in our own land.</p>
<p>Here’s the bottom line: A candidate’s beliefs about religion should only matter if he or she plans to push them through government action. If a candidate is committed to church-state separation, you don’t have to worry much about whether he nods toward Rome, Mecca or Salt Lake City when he prays. Or even Dallas.</p>
<p>And that’s why I thank Jeffress. These days, many leaders in the powerful Religious Right movement think exactly as he does, but they don’t have the temerity to say it out loud. Jeffress reminds us that there is a mean streak in the Religious Right that is deep and wide.</p>
<p>Americans who thought that Religious Right bigotry and sectarian zealotry died with Jerry Falwell now know better.</p>
<p>So keep preaching, Brother Jeffress. Every time you open your mouth, another alarmed citizen joins Americans United for Separation of Church and State.</p>
<p>I won’t say amen to your politicization of religion, but you’re educating a lot of people about the challenges we face as a nation. With men like you on the loose, we need church-state separation now more than ever.</p>
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</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/churches-and-politics">Churches and Politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups-involvement-in-candidate-elections">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mitt-romney">Mitt Romney</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religion-and-politics">Religion and politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religion-and-the-presidential-race">religion and the presidential race</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religious-tests-for-public-office">religious tests for public office</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rick-perry">Rick Perry</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/robert-jeffress">Robert Jeffress</a></span></div></div>Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:28:20 +0000Joseph L. Conn6159 at http://www.au.orghttp://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/amen-to-pastor-jeffress-why-the-dallas-bigot-is-doing-us-all-a-service#comments